To Serve and Protect
by AndromedaAI
Summary: When Annabelle Lennox is kidnapped, the Lennox family is at a loss of what to do. The Autobots chased her kidnapper, but lost him. Barricade was on the kidnapper's tail the whole time, not knowing that the daughter of one of his enemies was the one who was being kidnapped. When he saves her, he can't find it within himself to kill her. What will happen to him if he doesn't?
1. Kidnapped

**So this is a side story that I'm going to use to describe something that's coming up in my fic "The World Needs You Now". There's no mention of the main character of TWNYN in this fic, so this fic is totally OC proof! That means its full of canon characters (except for the bad guy) and only mentions of said OC. I hope you like this. It's only going to be, say, 4 chapters long. But that's all I need to explain this. I hope you like this!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters Sarah, Annabelle, Will, or any of the Autobots. I don't own anything to do with Transformers (or The Lorax). I only own the bad guy. EDIT: _Also_, I do not own the idea that Ratchet and Que/Wheeljack created a program that allows holoforms to consume food as a 'alternate source of fuel'. How did I forget to write this? It belongs to Botosphere.**

* * *

**To Serve and Protect**

* * *

1 ~ **Kidnapped** ~ 1

Sarah Lennox watched as her only daughter swung on one of the swings in the backyard from where she was standing behind the glass doors. She smiled softly, enjoying the happy look that was on her daughter's face. The seven year old was a miracle to the Lennox family, and whenever she was happy, the rest of the family was happy too. No one could stay unhappy if she suddenly bounced into the room wearing a smile that shone almost as bright as the sun. And for such a cheerful daughter, Sarah Lennox was grateful. It helped her stay sane when her husband, William, was stationed in Qatar and at various other bases around the globe.

Sarah and her daughter, Annabelle, were currently staying with Sarah's mother and father. It was for their birthdays because they were positioned so close together on the calendar. And it was a welcome break from the farm life. Yes the views they got out of their big country windows were gorgeous, but she felt safer and more secure here in town when Will wasn't home. Yes, there was a giant alien robot there to protect them when Will wasn't around, but sometimes something _did_ slip by Ironhide's sensors. Like that bear that had snuck into the chicken coop and ate all the chickens before ambling off in the middle of the night. Or that poacher that went after the cougar cub that decided to dart across the horse pasture…

Yeah, Sarah felt safe here, even though they were not going to be at her parents for too long.

From where she stood, she could hear her father pouring chips into a bowl while she heard her mother working the popcorn machine so that they could sit down to a movie together with a snack. They were going to watch the movie Annabelle had been wanting to watch for a while—_The Lorax._ The little girl had wanted to see the movie ever since she had seen come out in the store. Sarah had finally been able to grab a copy, so they were going to watch it that afternoon. Annabelle was going to be so thrilled to see that they were going to watch it, because, of course, she hadn't told her yet.

Sarah heard the front door open and then close, and then footsteps. "Smells good," Ironhide's voice grunted. She smiled. Ironhide, their guardian, had taken to the smell and taste of butter-coated popcorn once Ratchet and Que had come up with technology that allowed their holoforms to eat food and use it as an alternative fuel source, since the Energon Earth had was not going to last forever. He had also taken to her cooking, which meant he would eat dinner with them as many times as he could. She now had to feed a very hungry man and a very hungry mech every dinner.

She heard more footsteps before Ironhide's holoform appeared beside her. "Watching your daughter?" the Weapons Specialist asked, knowing that he had just pointed out the obvious but didn't care.

Sarah nodded with a hum of confirmation. "I just wish that Will was here to enjoy it with me…us…" she glanced up at the holoform, at his imposing stature. She watched as Ironhide nodded slowly after a pause that lasted a few seconds.

"I know," he said. "But he is busy looking for the Witwicky boy. He won't be coming back until they find him. This is the final stretch." Ironhide glanced at her. "They think they know where Sam is. I'll be returning to the base after the movie."

The woman nodded. "I understand."

Silence fell between the two as Sarah went back to listening to her parents preparing the snack. She could hear her mother preparing the iced tea. The snack would be finished when the iced tea was made. Sarah felt that she should be helping them, but she continued to stare out into the backyard and at her precious Annabelle.

But the serenity of the situation was not to last. Suddenly, a gold coloured SUV raced down the alley that ran just outside the back fence, and screeched to a stop. A man jumped out and ran around the front of the SUV before he vaulted the fence and quickly made his way over to Annabelle. Sarah came out of her relaxed stance and tensed as the man grabbed Annabelle. The blonde haired girl let out a scream as the stranger wrapped one hand around her and pressed a gun to her head. Sarah screamed her daughter's name as Ironhide growled and slammed the glass doors open with enough force to shatter the glass. He then went to step forward, but the man smirked and clicked the gun's safety off with a mocking chuckle. Sarah couldn't help but gasp.

"Don't move, man," the stranger warned, his voice heavy with a Russian accent. "Or it's bye-bye to sweetie-pie here."

Ironhide's vivid blue eyes narrowed dangerously and he growled.

"Now," the Russian said. "Since Colonel William Lennox and I have a score to settle and you don't want your daughter here to die, you'll allow me to get into the SUV and drive away or I will kill her." When neither Ironhide or Sarah moved, the Russian knowingly nodded before he backed up to the fence, opened the back gate, went through it, and backed up to the SUV. After throwing Annabelle into the back, he climbed into the front via the front passenger seat. With tears brimming, Sarah watched as the unknown man drove away with her baby.

Before the SUV was out of sight, Ironhide was comm'ing Optimus. ::Come in, Prime!::

::Optimus here, what is the matter, Ironhide?:: came the calm voice of the Autobot leader.

::Some human fool came and kidnapped Annabelle at gunpoint. Sarah is about to burst into hysterics. What should we do?:: Ironhide asked as he comfortingly wrapped his arms around Sarah's shoulders as she began to sob.

::We're on our way. Try to follow the criminal while we catch up.::

::Will do, Optimus. Over and out.:: Ironhide looked down at Sarah who looked like she was ready to collapse. "Don't worry, Sarah," he said softly. When she looked up at him, his eyes held a softness she had never seen before. "We will get your youngling back." And with that, he scooped her up bridal style, and quickly carried her inside. Once she was set down on the couch in the living room, Ironhide deactivated his holoform and started his engine.

* * *

Barricade was just minding his own business, thinking over what he had done for the Decepticons. Back in 2007, he had fought to get information about the Witwicky boy's glasses, but failed. In 2009, he was still paying for that failure up where Starscream had sent him. He had to patrol several of the cities up in Canada. The snow that fell every winter there was treacherous. He was stuck in Canada and not allowed to travel to Egypt in order to help his comrades. But in 2011, he was back in the US and allowed to help Megatron take over the world (though he didn't trust Sentinel. The Prime was, after all, an ex-Autobot). He was about to execute the Autobot Que at the puny human's request, but missed when one of the Decepticon ships began to dump its load of single-Decepticon flyers down onto the street they were on.

Now he was on his own again, patrolling a highway under his disguise of a police officer. For the last seven years, his ego as a well-known Decepticon had been bruised. And he didn't like it. He tried and tried again to keep his reliability intact, but he was failing miserably. Like, for instance, a few months before, her tried to retrieve an AllSpark shard that they had located, but he couldn't get the exact location from the girl who was reported having it, so he was forced to kill her. _But_, the all-annoying yellow and black Autobot who was the guardian of the Witwicky boy had swooped in to save the day, and stopped him from executing the girl with one of his maces.

The Saleen growled at the memory. He had been so close! He had checked to see if there were any Autobots in the vicinity before he had taken off after the girl. But the scum had been hiding. The fragger came out of nowhere!

The more recent failures, he was unwilling to say, stung more than the ones that he had performed when he first landed on the planet.

Barricade now spent his time pretending to be a harmless police car as his holoform played the part of a police officer that used him as a police officer. He had to admit that the human law enforcers had an exciting line of work, since some humans broke the law and had to be caught because they broke a rule pertaining to said law. And some of those law-breakers were dangerous, like one criminal the Decepticon knew. The fleshling was from a country called Russia. He was an ex-spy who had gone rogue and now only caused trouble. His record carried charges from armed robbery to murder. Barricade hated to say it, but with that human, he'd rather see him behind bars not hurting anyone than to see him running amok. The man, whose name was Francis Ericson, was a man who reminded him all too much of Starscream—minus the spitting, the ugliness, and the backstabbing ways (though, since he didn't personally know Ericson, he had no idea if Ericson was backstabbing or not).

The Decepticon had already caught the Russian three times and jailed him personally. But the man kept coming back. After the third time he had escaped Barricade realized that the man must have friends from his days of spying helping him escape. _Tricky, slagger,_ he thought.

"_There's a star on my car and one on my chest, a gun on my hip and the right to arrest. I'm the guy who's the boss on this highway so watch out what you're doin' when you're drivin' my way…_" sang the pleasant voice of the Canadian/American cowboy over the airwaves. Barricade knew he shouldn't have, but he had begun to enjoy listening to the radio when he was simply cruising down the highway. He especially enjoyed any song that sang about police officers. So far, the song he was listening to at that moment was as close to a favourite as a song could get (in his unwilling to have favourite lists part of his mind). There was something about country music that was soothing…

He was startled out of his thoughts when his 'radio' beeped before the voice of one of his 'fellow officers' drowned out the song. "Hey, Officer Cade, we have a problem."

Barricade choked back the groan that wanted to leave his voicebox. "What type of problem, Xavier?" he demanded.

"Well, your 'friend'" there was a chuckle "was spotted forcefully taking a child from the backyard of a home in the town of Tranquility, Nevada. After taking the child, he shoved her into a gold SUV and drove off. The mother of the child just called us. She sounds quite upset. She said it was her only child and she doesn't want her taken from them."

"Ericson is at it again, isn't he?" Barricade sighed. It seemed he was going to have to play hero once again. He shut off the music as he thought about the human sparkling. Sparklings were important, no matter what species they belonged to. He viewed sparklings with high regard, and at the femmes that created them with the same regard. He hadn't wanted to kill all the sparklings at the Youth Sector…but he had no choice…either he help kill them, or his sister would die. Megatron ended up offlining her anyway. He returned to the present. "What's the SUV's licence plate number?"

"OTN dash 285. The SUV was last seen pulling onto the highway, going east. Where are you?"

"Which highway, Xavier?" Barricade barked, something inside him reminding him of how much he loved high-speed chases…

"The only highway running through Tranquility, moron," Xavier said playfully before he became serious again. "Highway 50."

"You're lucky I'm not in the station with you, Officer David Xavier. You could have gotten a black eye" _Or much worse,_ Barricade thought "for that." He snorted at the sounds of disbelief and fear coming from the officer. David Xavier knew when the man he knew as 'Officer Barry Cade' meant business. "You're also lucky that I'm on the same highway as that criminal idiot and going in the same direction. I think I've spotted him as well." It was true, he could just see a gold SUV in front of pickup truck pulling a flatbed trailer. He zoomed his vision in on the SUV's licence plate and chuckled darkly when he saw that it matched the description of the licence plate Xavier had given him. _Gotcha, Ericson,_ Barricade thought evilly. "I've got a visual. Ha, he won't stand a chance."

"Get after him, Cade. Don't let him get away," Xavier said.

Barricade activated his holoform in his driver's seat and had it grip his steering wheel. He then switched on his sirens and accelerated. The pickup slowed down and pulled over as Barricade raced past and after the SUV, whose driver noticed him and was racing away.

* * *

"I can't believe he took Annabelle," Lennox growled from where he was sitting in Optimus' driver's seat. "And with Annabelle there…"

"From what I've learned about human criminals is that if one criminal has a gun while he or she is kidnapping someone, they have absolute power in the situation. It was the same on Cybertron," Optimus said. The leader of the Autobots couldn't take his mind off of why the man would have wanted to take Annabelle. Was it because he knew that if he sent out a ransom, he knew he would get the money? The Autobots would do anything to keep Lennox's daughter safe, since she was considered part of the family. "Why would this man want to take Annabelle?"

Lennox sighed and looked down. "If it's the man I think it is, I know why he took her. He wants me."

"What is this man's name?"

"His name is Francis Ericson. He was a former spy for the Russian government. I caught him in the middle of an 'operation' he was doing for their government and I stopped him from cruely killing a family who had spotted him before I had. I don't think he's forgiven me for that yet," Lennox explained.

Optimus paused. "I have to agree with you Lennox. If he had forgiven you, then he wouldn't have taken your daughter."

Lennox didn't say another word as Optimus pulled out onto the highway and charged down Highway 50, going east. Optimus soon came up behind Ironhide, who was swerving between cars almost in an angry fashion. He even honked at a few to get out of his way. It was understandable, since Ironhide liked Annabelle a lot. But it was highly illegal. Optimus was going to have to talk to him when this was all over and Annabelle was safe once more. There was no 'if' in this situation.

They soon caught up to the SUV since Ironhide had been keeping tabs on it. Optimus scanned it even before it was fully visible. Annabelle was laying the very back of the SUV, curled up in a tight little ball. Her elevated vitals showed that she was terrified.

But Optimus' attention was quickly taken from the SUV when Lennox gasped loudly. Optimus quickly searched for the source of Lennox's fear and saw what was troubling him.

_Barricade_.

* * *

**"_There's a star on my car and one on my chest, a gun on my hip and the right to arrest. I'm the guy who's the boss on this highway so watch out what you're doin' when you're drivin' my way…_" - "The Highway Patrol" by Paul Brandt**


	2. I Know This Fleshling

**So here's the next chapter! Sorry for it taking so long, I've never taken this long to update…ever. Grade 11 does that to you, I guess. But I'm undeterred! The other chapters will happen!**

**THANK YOU **_Kaitlyn Thorne, Autobot StarRacer, PrimesSPARROW, Noella50881, DragonElement, Bookworm Gal, SJSGirl, icanhascamaro, 1Timberwolf, Tai Prime, Naughtia, and Guest_** for reviewing! You guys are all amazing! I never thought this many people would like this story!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything having to do with Transformers. I only own the villain: Francis Ericson, and a non-significant supporting character named Officer David Xavier.**

* * *

2 ~ **I Know This Fleshling** ~ 2

The Autobots gradually lost track of where the SUV went, even though Bumblebee was with them and it was a scout's job was to track something, whether it was a Decepticon, a human, or a simple vehicle. Lennox became distressed because his daughter was in danger, and the police officer that just so happened to be chasing the criminal was a dangerous and very hostile Decepticon. Lennox knew, as soon as Ericson was apprehended, Barricade would discover his daughter, and after he discovered that she was a Lennox, he would most definantly kill her, just to get at the Autobots.

And it made him want to blow that Decepticon to bits all the more.

As the Autobots pulled off to the side of the road, Lennox slammed his fist into the dashboard. Optimus' horn honked because Lennox had hit his horn-pad in the middle of the steering-wheel. In response to the bout of physical abuse Lennox suddenly inflicted on him, Optimus grunted. "May you please not punch me, Colonel Lennox," the Autobot leader stated calmly. It wasn't a question, it was a statement.

"Sorry, Optimus…" Lennox sighed. "But Ericson got away! With my baby, no less! And Barricade's going to get her!"

* * *

Barricade snarled when Ericson slammed the side of his SUV into the side of his alt-form. So this human was going to be stupid, was he? Well then, let him be stupid. Though, it was going to make him harder to catch… But the Decepticon was not deterred. He was going to perform his duty and bring the pathetic fleshling to justice.

The Mustang grunted as Ericson slammed into his side once more. The Mustang's patience was growing thin. He would have to vent it soon.

Barricade slowed down a bit so that he could race behind the SUV, staying only mere inches from the back bumper. He knew Ericson could see him through the rear-view mirror, but he didn't care. Barricade considered projecting his holoform into the back of the SUV in order to overpower Ericson and bring the SUV under his control, but then decided against it as Ericson then would start pulling off some maneuvers to try to knock him off of his feet. That wouldn't work, and it would only cause harm to the little girl Ericson had kidnapped.

Barricade sighed as Ericson took this high-speed chase into the heart of a town, causing havoc. He considered transforming so that he could pick up the blasted SUV, but then that would blow his cover. And the people of the town probably knew who he was, especially after what had happened in Chicago. So Barricade stayed in his alt-form and continued to chase the man until the man decided he should pull over, stop the SUV, grab the girl, and run.

_Stupid fleshling! You cannot escape me!_ the Decepticon thought furiously as he parked himself and then used his holoform to climb out of him. He ran onto the sidewalk and pursued the man as Ericson ran down the sidewalk and then ducked into an apartment building. Barricade pulled off the aviator glasses that had formed on his "face", allowing his holoform's eyes to glow an almost demonic red as he rushed into the building. He used his scanners to follow the man up to the second floor of the three story apartment building.

When Barricade made it to the top of the staircase, he looked down the hall, and directly at Ericson, who had stopped to look back at him. When the man saw that Barricade was _right there_, he dashed up the next flight of stairs and up onto the third floor. Barricade growled low under his breath before quickly running down the hall and up the next flight of stairs. Ericson was trying to be sneaky and evasive, but Barricade was going to keep his scanners on the man, and was not going to lose him.

Barricade caught sight of Ericson disappearing up the staircase that lead up to the roof as he reached the top of the staircase he was climbing. He quickly rushed down the final hallway and followed the ex-spy up onto the roof. _Knowing the fleshbag, he's going to do something ridiculous. I better transform and put my real form on standby in case I have to catch someone. I don't want any blood on my servos…yet._ So he did just that, while also hoping that no one would see his real form as he piloted it to stand between the trees that grew up beside the apartment building. He then walked forward, using his holoform, to where he could see Ericson standing by the edge of the roof, carrying the girl in his arms.

The girl glanced over at him and showed him a look of pure terror. The sparking was old enough to know the situation she was in was extremely dangerous and that if she did something reckless, it might cause her death. Barricade stood stock still as Ericson whirled to look straight at him. "Do not come any closer!" Ericson warned, his Russian accent causing his warning to sound very dangerous. "Come any closer and I will drop this little girl over the edge!"

The Decepticon cop pretended to hold his breath (since the holoforms didn't need to breathe), as a small smug smirk appeared on the Russian's face. The smirk caused Barricade's eye colour to stay at red instead of fading back to the synthetic brown that he had chosen to make his holoform look like a normal police officer. The girl seemed to notice this, and she turned to look at her kidnapper. "Mister?" she asked attentively.

"What?" Ericson snapped.

"Have you heard of the Decepticons?" she asked slowly.

"Of course I have! Hasn't everyone?!"

"Yeah, but I just wanted to let you know that you're being chased by a Decepticon. It's a Decepticon's holoform. He has red eyes."

Ericson blinked at the little girl, and Barricade couldn't believe how mature sounding the fleshling sparkling sounded. But then he stiffened when Ericson looked straight at him, straight in the eyes. Ericson made a strange little sound of fear before he took a step back. He finally realized that he was up against something he would never be able to outrun. Ericson took another step back and lost his balance when his foot met nothing but air. Barricade's eyes widened as the girl screamed and Ericson fell off the roof, taking the girl with him. Barricade deactivated his holoform and took control of his real body. He then ran to catch both the criminal and the girl.

Barricade pushed himself and managed to get to them before they touched the ground. He gently caught them both before he projected his holoform to stand on his servo. Using his holoform he roughly grabbed Ericson and yanked him to his feet. "I hereby, as a police officer working for the law, place you under arrest," he announced as his clasped a pair of handcuffs onto Ericson's wrists. Ericson tried to fight against him, but Barricade only chuckled as he set the man, the girl, and his holoform on the ground before transforming down into his alt-mode. His holoform then opened one of his back doors and shoved the criminal into the back seat. After shutting and locking the back door, Barricade allowed his holoform's eyes to fade from red to brown before he turned to look at the girl.

"You are safe now, sparkling," he said.

"Y-you're not gonna hurt me?" the girl asked slowly, aghast.

Barricade stopped and looked down at the girl. Why shouldn't he kill the girl? He _could_ after Ericson was put behind bars. He just didn't want the criminal to have the satisfaction of seeing the girl he had kidnapped dying. "Not…at the moment, no. I will return you to your family, but if you annoy me too much, I might kill you." The girl's eyes were impossibly wide when she heard that statement.

"I won't do anything bad," she muttered, looking down at her feet.

Barricade allowed a small smile. "Alright then. Why don't you hop in the passenger seat and put your seatbelt on?" Internally, he was mentally gagging at how sweetly he had to speak to the little girl. A Decepticon was _not_ programmed to be nice to others. It just didn't happen. This meant that saving a human sparkling from a criminal was a very hard thing for him to do. He wanted to just kill both Ericson and the girl, and then leave, but something stopped him. Or more precisely, the man known as Officer David Xavier stopped him.

If Barricade killed the criminal and the girl, Xavier would berate him for doing it. Then he would somehow find out that he was a Decepticon, and when he did, he would somehow call in the Autobots. Having him as a senior officer was very annoying. So he couldn't kill the criminal or the girl.

With a grumble, Barricade walked around his alt-form until he came to the driver's door and got into his alt-form. As soon as he was sitting in the driver's seat, Ericson erupted into a series of swears, and the little girl squeaked before clapping her hands over her ears. With a roll of his eyes, Barricade grabbed a roll of duck-tape from under the seat, ripped a piece from it, whirled on the man in the back seat and slapped the tape over Ericson's lips. Instantly the swearing stopped and silence flowed into the Saleen. Barricade looked over at the little girl and told her she could take her hands from her ears. The little girl looked back at Ericson and giggled when she saw that he was just sitting there, unable to speak.

Barricade smirked in a satisfied way as he turned to look out his windshield. He quickly rolled off of the lawn surrounding the apartment building and onto the road. Quickly he began to make his way back to Tranquility, where he was stationed. Though he had shut Ericson up, it was not going to stay quiet…at all.

"What's your designation?" the girl asked.

Barricade inhaled before he sighed slowly out through his nose. He'd answer her questions and hope she'd shut up. After all, she was only a normal citizen. "The name's Barricade," he said.

"What do you do?"

"I'm a scout. I…scout for stuff."

"What are you going to do to the guy in the back?"

"…Put him in jail. I'm an officer too, you know." Barricade gave the girl an exasperated look. By the way this was going, she wasn't going to stop any time soon. He listened to her as she asked more and more questions, and only answered a few of the ones she threw at him. He occasionally looked at the girl and took in her golden blonde hair, her clear blue eyes that reminded him too much of the blue of Autobot Optics, pale skin, and small stature.

As he neared Tranquility, Barricade began to realize that he recognised the girl from somewhere. No, not the girl, per sae, but something about her reminded him of someone. He just couldn't figure out who, though. He went over his databanks as he drove into town, his processor screaming 'Who is she! Who is she!' to him. He wanted to ignore it and ask the girl where she lived, but finally gave in and turned to look at her. The girl was staring out the passenger-side window as Barricade drove to the police station. He opened his mouth to ask her, but then closed it. Ericson was in the back still, and Barricade didn't want him to know the little girl's name. He had allowed himself to tell the girl his designation because he wanted Ericson to know his real name.

At the police station, Barricade told the girl to stay in his alt-form as he escorted Ericson into the police station. Ericson sneered at Barricade as the Decepticon roughly shoved him into the police station and into the hands of the awaiting police officers inside. "I will get you, _Officer Barricade_," the Russian hissed before he was hauled out of the room. Barricade glared after the man before he slipped his aviator glasses on in case he accidentally let his eyes glow red. The nerve of that—

"Hey, Cade," said a familiar voice as someone clapped him on the back. Barricade slowly looked back over his shoulder and at the police officer that was suddenly standing behind him.

"Hello, Officer Xavier," Barricade said stiffly.

David Xavier grinned boyishly. "You did it again, Cade! That guy will never be able to escape you!"

Barricade rolled his eyes, but the effect was lost because of the glasses. Xavier said this every time Barricade apprehended Ericson. "Yeah, whatever," the holoform said gruffly before he turned and began to walk towards the door. "I have to get that girl home."

"Wait! Cade! She hasta stay here!" but Barricade was already out the door and heading towards his alt-form. He got in, closed the door, and drove out of the parkinglot.

As soon as he was on the road, Barricade sighed and glanced over at the girl. She looked so innocent, but Barricade knew that, under the skin, she was smart. She had listened to his command, yet she was probably accessing everything that was happening. Barricade wanted to know this girl's name.

"What is your name, girl?" he asked gruffly.

The girl looked up at him. She blinked her sapphire eyes at him a few times before she answered. "I'm Annabelle. Annabelle Lennox."

Barricade slammed on his breaks, and as soon as he stopped, his head snapped over so that he was staring right at the girl, the red light from his eyes shining through his glasses. "WHAT?!"


	3. I Can't Kill You

**Hey, guys! What's up? School probably. That's what's up with me. But I have managed to bring this chapter to you guys today, so I hope this is, like, a "Welcome to the Weekend!" type of thing for you.**

**So, this chapter is all just Barricade and Annabelle. They are the main characters of this story for a reason :D Note: I probably won't be updating TWNYN until this fic is complete. But there is an off chance that I might pump out another chapter before this is complete. I love ya guys!**

**Thanks **_Kaitlyn Thorne, PrimesSPARROW, Noella50881, Tai Prime, DragonElement, Bookworm Gal, Naughtia, 1Timberwolf, Guest, Autobot_ _Firekat,_** and**_ icanhascamaro_** for reviewing!**

**(PS. Check out my blog "AndromedaAI's Corner" for changes in plan, reasons for why I'm not updating, and upcoming FanFiction ideas! There's a link on my profile. Thanks!)**

* * *

3 ~ **I Can't Kill You** ~ 3

Barricade sighed as he listened to the girl tell him which streets he had to turn down on in order to reach the girl's home. He still hadn't got over the fact that the little girl sitting in his passenger seat was _Annabelle Lennox_, the daughter of the leader of the fleshling military called NEST, and one of Autobot Weapon Specialist's charges. He couldn't help but shutter slightly at the thought of getting caught off guard because of the girl and then being pummeled into the ground because he had been pinned there.

_I better not make a wrong move,_ Barricade thought as he turned onto the final street, his holoform staring fixatedly out the windshield. _Primus help me if I do._

"We're almost there!" the girl sang happily.

The girl painfully reminded Barricade of his sister. She had been that bubbly and happy when she had been only a youngling. But it hurt to think about her, so he stopped. He continued to stare ahead, focusing on the traffic, pedestrians, and speed-limit signs around him. The girl's house came into view. Barricade examined it and saw that it was a townhouse situated near a retirement home. It was a humble abode. Barricade slowed down and prepared to pull off to the side of the road so that he was sitting across the road from the house, but then kept on rolling when he saw the garage door open.

A mammoth truck that looked like it shouldn't have been able to fit inside the garage rolled out, its engine roaring angrily.

For a second, Barricade dropped his tough I-am-evil-so-deal-with-it attitude as a look of shock and maybe even a little bit of fear appeared on his holographic face. "Oooh _slaaaag_…" he said with a woosh of air leaving his holoform lungs. He floored the accelerator and tightened the seatbelt around Annabelle as he shot forward, and began to weave around the few cars that were on the road. His normal attitude reappeared as he revved his engine in challenge before screaming out of the town, Ironhide hot on his bumper.

"Mr. Barricade, why are you running from 'Hide?" Annabelle asked. "He's my friend!"

"He isn't mine, though," Barricade said with a shake of his head. He glanced at the girl. "Once he's got you away from me, he won't hesitate to blow me up. Then it will be goodbye to the cop who saved you from a certain doom."

Barricade knew that Annabelle knew that he was right. The Weapons Specialist's reputation was to 'shoot first, then consider if it was worth asking questions later' kind of guy. If Barricade couldn't get away from the Autobot quickly enough, he was, what the humans said, toast.

He raced out of the town at a dangerous speed. If he had been just a normal automobile, a police officer would have likely pulled him over. But he was a technically a police officer himself because of his alt-mode, so he was able to 'run' from his pursuer. Though he would call it _run_, he considered it a retreat. There was a human who once said "We're not retreating, we're just advancing in another direction!" or something like that. He was just retreating so that he regroup and do something about this 'annoyance' later.

But as he tried to take this chase to the back roads, Ironhide somehow caught up to him and he was forced into a field. With a snarl, Barricade tried to swerve away from the Autobot as Ironhide transformed up into his bipedal mode, but was denied that tactic as Ironhide kicked at him. With a grunt, Barricade was launched into the air. He didn't know what to do with the human sparkling still in his passenger seat. For all things beautiful, Barricade didn't want her killed. If she died, Ironhide would be sure to take her death out on him.

So with rapid thinking, he tightened the seatbelt around Annabelle to the point of almost being painful before he activated his stealth mode in order to land carefully. He crashed into the ground with more force than he liked, but he had landed on his wheels none the less and Annabelle was alright. Though, when Barricade glanced at her with his holoform, he saw that she was absolutely terrified and tears were streaming down her cheeks. This was not good. Ironhide would not like it if Annabelle was distressed.

Though, Barricade wasn't going to have the chance to tell the Weapon Specialist that he was currently holding very precious cargo.

"Transform and face me, you sparkless coward!" Ironhide roared.

Barricade growled and deactivated his holoform. He did not want to transform and risk having Annabelle running out into the battlefield. It would end in definant disaster.

His sensors suddenly warned him that Ironhide was preparing to fire his weapons at him. Instantly, his poor, but graphic imagination, conjured up an image of Annabelle, laying on the ground, as her hair burned. He would be laying a little ways away, also burning. Barricade shoved the thought away as he gunned it in order to dodge Ironhide's first barrage of attacks. Annabelle screamed and Barricade weaved between the attacks. Some of the shots scraped his sides, but didn't really cause any damage.

_If this gets any hotter, I'll have to shove her into Frenzy's compartment so that I'll be able to transform without crushing her or accidentally throwing her out into the battlefield,_ at that thought Barricade's processor wanted to stall. But he forced it not to as he wondered why he wanted to make sure that she was alright. He could just kill her as he transformed so that he could fight Ironhide. But something stopped him. But what was it? He sighed as he slid around another shot before he decided what he had to do.

Reactivating his holoform, he quickly guided Annabelle to the compartment that usually housed Frenzy. Frenzy and Annabelle were roughly the same size—though Frenzy was thinner than the girl. He told her to curl up in the compartment. "It's going to be a bumpy ride, girl, so don't panic if everything starts to shake," he warned her before he firmly closed the opening to the compartment.

"So, you want to face me, Autobot? Then so be it," Barricade growled before he quickly transformed up into his bipedal mode, careful not to jostle the compartment. He faced Ironhide and brought out his mace. And the battle began.

Barricade was light on his pedes as he dodged shot after shot from Ironhide's cannons before he whipped out with his mace. It crashed into Ironhide's side, causing the Autobot to snarl. From within the compartment, Barricade heard Annabelle whimper. She had obviously not seen—_or heard_ this side of her guardian before. Barricade retracted the mace from Ironhide's side before he pulled it back slightly and whipped it at the Weapons Specialist again while dodging more return fire.

But the mace missed Ironhide and got lodged between two trees. Now, it is known that most Cybertronians can uproot trees with their mighty strength—like Starscream did when he was fighting Optimus Prime before the Egypt incident—but the smaller Cybertronians were always known to have some trouble doing that. Barricade was known for his strength, but since his mace was stuck between two trees that looked like they had been there close to one thousand years, the mace was stuck between two trees that looked to be tons heavier than his maximum lifting capacity.

Barricade gritted his denta in frustration as he yanked back on the chain that connected his mace to his wrist. He dug his heels into the ground in order to find traction, but before he could break his mace free, Ironhide tackled him to the ground. The chain snapped. Barricade grunted as he quickly made sure Annabelle was safely suspended in the compartment where she wouldn't be injured before Ironhide and he crashed into the ground. Ironhide quickly pinned him to the ground, but Barricade flailed violently in order to break free. He could hear Annabelle crying, and he desperately didn't want Ironhide to hear that.

"You took Annabelle somewhere, didn't you?" Ironhide growled viciously. "Where did you take her?!"

Barricade growled angrily. "Who's to say that I took your charge?"

"We saw you chasing after the man that kidnapped her!"

Barricade didn't reply to that. Instead, he pushed up abruptly with his arms, successfully shoving the Weapons Specialist off of his back. Then he leapt to his feet and ran as the Autobot recovered. As soon as he was on the road, he transformed down into his alt-mode and drove away as fast as he could.

* * *

Hours after the run in with Ironhide, Barricade allowed himself to relax somewhat. That had been a close call. But he hadn't got out of it unscathed. He was down a mace and was currently driving on only three wheels.

Once he deemed it safe enough, he let Annabelle climb out of Frenzy's compartment. She climbed up into the front passenger seat before he clipped the seatbelt around her. She was silent as she looked out the passenger door window, a distant look in her blue eyes. Barricade wondered if she was thinking about the noises she had heard during his battle with Ironhide. She was probably thinking about why he had run from her guardian. But then, she might also be realizing _why_ he had run from her guardian. It's not like he was going to just walk up to him, shake his servo, and then hand her over. He hadn't even been able to park across the street from the girl's house!

Barricade activated his holoform with a sigh before he looked over at the seven year old sparkling. She was now hugging herself and looking down at her knees. His processor was still asking him why he just didn't go and kill her now. His almost-forgotten conscience answered his processor's questions by saying that Annabelle reminded him of his sister when she was just a youngling. And if he killed Annabelle, he would possibly feel guilty for doing so.

He was confused by all these feelings he hadn't felt since before the war. He had buried them so that he wouldn't be distracted by them when he was fighting. He buried them even more when Megatron went and executed his sister in front of his very own optics. He never wanted to feel anything again, so when any of his fellow soldiers teased him about his sister's death, he would vent the nearly gone emotions as anger. After a while, he could only fell pure, unbridled _wrath_ for anyone other than the bots who had been friends with him before the war. That was how he became the Cybertronian he was today. That was how he had become one of Megatron's most reliable soldiers during the first stages of the war. He eventually came to hunger for action, for destruction, for _death_.

But over the vorns, he had calmed down slightly. His goals and priorities straightened so that he focused on destroying Autobots only. And that continued as the war was taken out into space.

He glanced at Annabelle again, and saw her looking at him curiously. But before he could ask her what she was looking at, his comm. buzzed. With a sigh, Barricade answered. ::This is Barricade.::

::Where are you, Barricade?:: demanded a sharp voice. Primus, it was _Starscream_.

He was not pleased. And by the sounds of it, neither was Starscream. ::I'm patrolling Tranquility, like I was ordered to. Why are you comm'ing me, Starscream?::

::You are needed at the warehouse district just outside of the human colony of Tranquility in two joors. You better not be late,:: was the curt reply.

::Why—?:: but before he could finish the sentence, Starstream had already ended the call.

_Fragging glitch!_ Barricade cursed. His engine rumbled angrily, startling the girl, as he changed lanes and prepared to skirt around Tranquility and head towards the warehouse district.

He didn't know what he was going to do with Annabelle. He didn't know why he was needed back at the warehouses since the Decepticon base was no longer there since the Autobots knew about it. He didn't know if was going to be able to mask the girl's energy signature with his own, more powerful one.

"Mr. Barricade?" came the tentative voice of his passenger.

He looked over at her. "Yes…sparkling?" he said slowly.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

Barricade sighed and looked out the windshield. "One of the mechs I work for just called me. I need to go meet up with him. I'm sure it's just a small meeting—but you'll have to go back into Frenzy's compartment when we get near the place I have to meet him at." He made a soft hum. "I'll tell you when you have to go into it."

Annabelle squirmed. She suddenly looked guilty and glanced at him sheepishly a few times. And then she blushed. "Uh…Mr. Barricade?"

"Yes?"

"I need to use the bathroom."


	4. Gone Ex

**There! Here's the final chapter for you my friends. I hope you like it. I hope it wasn't rushed -.-'**

**If you wanna see Barricade in action once again, check out my fanfiction **_**The World Needs You Now**_** which this is the side story of. Hope to see you soon!**

**Thanks **_Naughtia, PrimesSPARROW, 1Timberwolf, Noella50881, icanhascamaro, DragonElement, Kaitlyn Thorne, Bookworm Gal, _**and **_transformers nummber 1 fan_ **for reviewing! You're so awesome!**

* * *

4 ~ **Gone Ex** ~ 4

Barricade waited by the woman's washroom, hiding his impatience, as Annabelle used one of the stalls on the other side of the door to go to the washroom. After the girl came out of the washroom, Barricade held her hand and walked over to the counter. They were in a McDonalds. Annabelle had claimed that she was hungry on the way to the nearest bathroom, and Barricade decided that he would stop at the first fast-food restaurant he came across. And it happened to be McDonalds.

The Decepticon quickly ordered Annabelle a Happy Meal before having to wait a few minutes before the woman on the other side of the counter handed him the meal. With a curt nod, he turned on his heel, and led the Lennox girl out of the restaurant. He quickly walked over to his alt-mode and helped the girl into the front passenger seat before he handed her the Happy Meal. She uttered a small "thank you" before he shut the door and walked over to the driver's side and got in.

Pulling out of the parking lot, Barricade made sure that Annabelle was buckled in before he drove out onto the highway and began to drive towards the warehouse district of the town of Tranquility. Annabelle quickly ate her Happy Meal, making sure not to spill anything before Barricade took the garbage and stuffed it under the driver's seat.

The drive was long and quiet. Annabelle didn't say anything. Barricade merely glanced at her from time to time. Thoughts swirled around in his processor but he chose to ignore them.

His processor changed from thinking about the girl to what Starscream was up to. He never trusted the seeker. He was crabby and had an ego that could encompass Cybertron. He was treacherous and always craved to be the Decepticon leader. He also had ways of finding out about things that didn't want to be found out. Barricade would have to be careful.

The sun began to set as he neared the warehouses. By that time, Annabelle was falling asleep, so he had her crawl into Frenzy's compartment. Once she was curled up in there, he closed the compartment and not long after, felt her fall asleep. Barricade sank slowly down onto his wheels. What was this feeling he was feeling? Did he suddenly feel protective of the girl, even though she supported the Autobots? He couldn't figure it out, and he didn't have the time to anyway.

The warehouses finally came into view approximately twenty minutes later. He slowed down as he drove in through the gates, and came to a stop in the main yard. He quickly transformed up into his robot form as the sound of a jet engine reached his audios, and he looked up to see Starscream appear, transform, and land. Barricade looked at him through slightly narrowed optics as he crossed his arms. Starscream walked over to the Decepticon scout and leered down into his face. "Glad you could come, Barricade," the Decepticon SiC said. Barricade watched as he took a few steps back. "I didn't think you would come."

"What is the purpose of bringing me here, Starscream?" Barricade demanded. "I need to get back to patrolling."

Starscream made a metallic "tsk"ing noise with the tip of his glossa. He shook his helm mockingly. "Come now, Barricade, there's no rush. After all, _we have all night_." Suddenly, the seeker lunged forward and crashed into the cop car. Barricade let out surprised grunt before he was pinned to the ground by the bigger Decepticon on top of him. He felt Annabelle stir slightly before she went back to sleep.

"Starscream! What are you doing?" Barricade growled.

"Your usefulness to the Decepticon cause has ended, Barricade," Starscream sneered.

Time seemed to stop to the Decepticon cop. What Starscream had just said that Barricade's time was up. He wasn't needed anymore, so he was going to have to die. Why Starscream had told him that instead of just offlining him was a mystery. Starscream liked to kill his victims quickly. After thinking all this through, time seemed to resume and Barricade shoved the seeker off of him.

Getting to his pedes, Barricade dodged the attacks Starscream threw at him. But after recovering from the first set of attacks, Starscream caught him off guard. Barricade was suddenly picked up before he was thrown across the main yard. He landed with a grunt, and he wondered, for just a second, if Annabelle had been damaged in the fall. But he didn't get to dwell on the question for too long before he was forced to move in order to dodge the seeker's next attack.

Thoughts swirled around in his processor. Half of his processor was worrying about Annabelle while the other half of his processor was telling him to forget about her. Deep in his spark, though, he knew he couldn't forget or not care about the human sparkling, not after how she had grown on him. He cared about her, even though he had only known her for a day, and he was going to make sure that she was going to make it out of this battle alright. So he opened up a line with his partner, Frenzy.

::Frenzy, where are you?::

::I-I-I'm w-watching you from w-w-where I-I-I'm hiding i-in a n-n-n-nearby w-warehouse,:: came the shaky reply.

Barricade growled. ::Get your aft out here! I have someone you need to take from the battle zone,:: he told his partner as he jumped away when Starscream tried to tackle him to the ground again.

::Who is that s-s-s-someone?:: Frenzy asked.

::A girl. A human girl. I don't want you to hurt her, do you understand? I want you to keep her safe.::

He could almost see him nodding. ::I-I unders-s-stand. I-I'm coming,:: the Minicon said before the line was cut.

Barricade focused completely on the battle and began to deal attacks of his own. He slashed at Starscream's armor and managed to run around behind the Decepticon SiC. Barricade jumped up and managed to clamp onto the seeker's wings. But when Starscream began to flail around in order to shake him off, Barricade lost his grip and went tumbling to the ground. Starscream walked over to him and picked him up by his chest plates. Barricade thrashed in attempts to get his superior to let go of him, but stopped when he felt a sharp pain in his chest. A cry was torn from his voice box when Starscream went and ripped off the layer of armor covering his chest.

And both Annabelle and his spark were exposed.

Energon leaked from various lines that had been ripped open and wires sparked. Annabelle was now fully awake, and was crying softly. Starscream caught sight of Annabelle's huddled form inside Frenzy's compartment, and he chuckled deviously. "Well, well, well," the seeker said. "There's a little girl in the compartment beside your spark, Barricade. Did you know that there was a stowaway inside you, hmm?"

_Aw, frag,_ was what ran through the Mustang's processor. _Frenzy, where are you?_

Barricade could do nothing as the F-22 reached for Annabelle. Though, Frenzy decided that this was the appropriate time to appear. He scurried up Starscream's leg before he crawled down the seeker's arm and onto Barricade's shoulder. Frenzy looked down at Annabelle, registered that she was the girl Barricade wanted him to protect, before he jumped down onto the edge of the compartment in front of the girl. Annabelle screamed in fear, thinking Frenzy was there to hurt her. But when Frenzy opened fire on Starscream's face, she stopped, realizing that he was there to _protect_ her.

Starscream cried out as he was pelted with hundreds of miniature bullets in the faceplates. He flinched away and dropped Barricade. Barricade landed with a grunt while Annabelle screamed and Frenzy shouted a few obscene words in Cybertronian.

Frenzy quickly picked up Annabelle and leapt off of Barricade's frame. Barricade climbed to his feet as Frenzy ran for cover. He brought out his gun and began to fire upon Starscream as he began running backwards, away from the battle. His processor was in a turmoil. His HUD screen was filled with flashing lights that were warning him about the loss of Energon, and his injuries. But he forcefully ignored them as he shot at Starscream and watched as he stumbled with the force of the shots.

Barricade turned and transformed down into his alt-form before he raced after Frenzy and Annabelle.

* * *

Frenzy gripped Annabelle tightly as he leapt over a pile of shrapnel. He darted around behind a warehouse before he set the trembling girl down. He looked at her with his four eerily blue optics as she sat down and looked up at him with terror-filled blue eyes. Frenzy examined the girl quietly, but never moved to walk around her. He mirrored her position and sat down in front of her, facing her. To anyone that might have saw this scene and hadn't known that Frenzy was a Decepticon, they would have said that this scene was cute.

After ten minutes of silence, Annabelle gathered up the courage to ask a question. "Mister…what's your name?"

Frenzy cocked his helm slightly to the left. "Frenzy."

"I'm Annabelle," the girl said quietly. There were a few more seconds of silence. "You're…not going to hurt me…are you?" she blinked innocently.

Frenzy straightened his helm. "B-Barricade w-want's m-me t-t-to protect you-ou. I-I will-ill not h-h-hurt you-ou."

Annabelle nodded quickly before she seemed to withdraw into herself. She pulled her knees up to her chin and wrapped her thin arms around them. Frenzy recorded this show of emotion and saved it for future reference.

* * *

Barricade screeched to a stop beside his partner and the girl. Frenzy helped Annabelle into Barricade's battered form before they took off full speed. Annabelle screamed when she suddenly found herself pinned down into the seat. Barricade raced from the warehouses and deep within Tranquility. "Annabelle, I'm not keeping you from your family any longer. You're too much danger with me. I don't want to admit it, but I…care about you. To me, you're a sparkling. So I'm going to give you back."

Annabelle looked at the radio with a surprise. "But Ironhide's there. He'll hurt you if you get too close!" she said.

"I have courage. I'll drop you off and leave."

"W-what a-a-are w-we going t-to do a-a-after that?" Frenzy asked. "W-we c-can't go back to the D-Decepticons!"

"We'll go rogue," was the now ex-Decepticon's reply.

"Rogue," the Minicon agreed with a nod.

"But the Autobots won't know that," Annabelle pointed out. "They'll hurt you."

Barricade's holoform appeared. He smirked at her. "I'll figure out a way."

Annabelle looked up the holoform. Even though he had that confident look on his face, his eyes held a tired look. She shook her head and resumed looking out the window. She couldn't wait to see her mommy again, but she wondered if Barricade would get even more hurt if he got too close to her home.

Barricade drove down the familiar road at the speed limit, sounding very quiet. The air inside his cab was solemn. Annabelle didn't speak in fear that she would break the silence. Frenzy sat between the seats and twittered something softly in Cybertronian once every few minutes.

Barricade pulled up in front of Annabelle's home and stopped. "Alright, sparkling, it's time for you to go," he announced.

Annabelle nodded sadly before she surprised him by wrapping her thin arms around his holoform. "Thanks for saving me," she said quietly before she let go of him and nearly football tackling Frenzy in order to hug him as well. "Thank you, _both_ of you," she said seriously before she climbed out of Barricade's cab. Barricade stepped out of his alt-mode as well and watched the girl run across the street. Her golden hair flew behind her as she noticed both her mother, her father, and what was probably her grandparents standing in the backyard. He also saw Ironhide's holoform, but Barricade made no move to run. He merely grinned as he watched Annabelle surprise her family by her sudden appearance (there was a chorus of "Annabelle!"s). They looked up in his direction, and with a small flash of red in his eyes and a wave, Barricade deactivated his holoform and drove away.

The ex-Decepticon thought about what had happened over that day. He went from being one of the fiercest Decepticons to an ex-Decepticon. He had saved a human sparkling and found that he couldn't kill her. He had battled with Ironhide and he had battled with Starscream. He had joined up with Frenzy once again, but now they were on their own.

"W-what are w-we going t-to do n-now?" Frenzy asked.

"I don't know," Barricade said. "But when there's an opportunity to do something that we deem right of doing, we'll take it."


End file.
